Over one-quarter of all children under 21 years of age have one of their parents living outside of their household. When this occurs, it is often the legal obligation of the noncustodial parent to provide financial support to help pay for the costs associated with raising their children. This report provides an overview of these children and their custodial parents, including their socioeconomic characteristics and the types and amount of child support received from noncustodial parents.
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On behalf of the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study partnered with Responsible Fatherhood programs and experts in the field to identify high-priority questions and emerging service approaches. Programs use a number of promising models to work with fathers, but rigorous studies have not yet shown which are effective and worth expanding or replicating.
The B3 team is rigorously evaluating three new and emerging service approaches…
Webinar
Research has shown that fathers returning to their families and communities after a period of incarceration often face multiple challenges, such as housing, employment, child support, and complicated family relationships (Fontaine et al, 2017, Final Implementation Findings from the Responsible Fatherhood Reentry Projects). Please join us for a discussion of ways in which fatherhood programs can help returning fathers and their families overcome these challenges. A list of helpful resources will be provided, and attendees will hear from the perspectives of a researcher, two practitioners,…
Other, Fact Sheet
The incarceration of a loved one can be very overwhelming for both children and caregivers. It can bring about big changes and transitions. In simple everyday ways, you can comfort your child and guide her through these tough moments. With your love and support she can get through anything that comes her way. Here are some tools to help you with the changes your child is going through. (Author abstract)
Visitation can be an important and meaningful experience for incarcerated parents and their children, but it can also be a source of stress and anxiety when parents’ or children’s expectations do not align with what ends up happening. Many aspects of visitation are outside of the control of an incarcerated parent, but there are things you can do to anticipate problems and reduce stress to make visitation a positive and beneficial experience for everyone involved. Below are things to consider when planning for a visit from your child. If you do not know the answer to a question, think about…
Research to date provides little information about effects on children when fathers return home from prison or jail, especially whether children’s behavioral problems persist when the father returns. To help fill this gap, this brief explores children’s behaviors when a father is incarcerated and when he is released. Authors seek to understand whether the negative child outcomes from parental incarceration persist even after parents return home. (Author abstract modified)
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Training Materials Despite growing interest and investment in mentoring as a component of reentry, there is only a small body of research to support the value of adult mentoring services in reducing recidivism among criminal justice populations. The research related to adult reentry mentoring that does exist rarely addresses participants’ criminogenic risk levels and other factors that are known to be important in recidivism-reduction strategies. In the absence of research, reentry programs and corrections agencies are looking for guidance on how mentoring and correctional evidence-based practices (EBPs) can be…
Unpublished Paper
Paternal incarceration has consistently been linked with aggression and acting-out in children, yet mechanisms underlying these behavioral problems remain unclear. Identifying these paths is essential for understanding how incarceration contributes to intergenerational disadvantage and determining how best to mitigate these collateral consequences for children. This article tests the extent to which changes incarceration imposes on children’s families after incarceration fill this important gap. Two key findings emerge from structural equation models using the longitudinal Fragile Families…
Brief
Understanding the community and family challenges that create conditions that disproportionately subject some youth to the juvenile justice system is critical to developing community-based interventions that offer a holistic approach to both preventing youth justice system involvement and setting justice-system-involved youth on a more positive path.
Relationships between children and their parents are the foundation on which children learn how to form and sustain healthy relationships. Disrupting those relationships—by losing a parent to incarceration, for example—can have long-term effects on children and may lead to antisocial behavior, poor school performance, and physical and mental health problems. To mitigate the risks of parental incarceration for children, some correctional agencies offer parent-child visits in prisons or jails. There are several types of parent-child visits, but many experts believe contact visits, where the…
